Parents of baby girl say world has been 'blown apart' as they issue desperate plea

The desperate parents of a six-month-old baby girl, who is urgently waiting for a heart transplant, have made a heartfelt plea for a donation.

Rory Fletcher has been hospitalised since her birth due to dilated cardiomyopathy – a condition that causes the left ventricle of her heart to be stretched and enlarged, hindering its ability to pump blood effectively.

Currently in intensive care at Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, Rory relies on a mechanical heart pump while her parents, Becks and Toby, anxiously await the availability of a donor's heart for transplantation.

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This comes as the UK transplant waiting list hits an all-time high with 8,000 individuals still awaiting a life-saving transplant. Meanwhile, the number of deceased organ donors fell by 2% last year, according to figures released by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT).

Despite these daunting statistics, Becks and Toby, hailing from Knutsford in Cheshire, refuse to lose hope.

"We know Rory is one of the smallest children on the transplant waiting list, which means she is not 'competing' against others but on the other hand not many organs are donated from babies, so there are less hearts available in her size," shared 31 year old mum Becks.

"We would just be so grateful to the donor family if she had a transplant. It's a horrible situation for anyone that loses a child, and not one you ever want to think about. But I try to think of it that, if you can come away and turn something negative into something positive for another family, why wouldn't you? It would mean everything to us."

Becks, a public relations director, revealed she had "the smoothest of pregnancies" before delivering via C-section, adding: "As soon as she was born it was clear something was wrong. We didn't know if we were expecting a girl or a boy, and by the time they'd announced she was a girl, she'd turned blue and was whisked away by the nurses.

"Now, I am in ICU with her pretty much all day, every day. Toby has had to go back to work, but he visits as much as he can around that. It has just totally blown our world apart."

Over the past decade, more than 12,000 people in the UK have either died or been removed from the transplant waiting list before receiving the lifesaving organs they needed, NHSBT reported on Monday. However, during the same period, over 44,000 lives have also been saved or improved through deceased and living donor organ transplants.

For little Rory, it would mean the start of a "normal life", her mum said. "To get a heart and take Rory home would just be incredible," Becks expressed.

"At this point, we'd love to just have any glimpse of a normal life – taking her on a walk out of the hospital, picking her up without worrying about machines and wires, even just hearing her laugh or cry. There are so many milestones and normal things we've never experienced."

On average, more than three people a day died or became too ill for a transplant in the UK over the past decade, according to NHSBT figures.

As Organ Donation Week kicks off on Monday, NHSBT is encouraging individuals to confirm their decision to donate organs by registering on the NHS Organ Donor Register.

"Someone will die today waiting for an organ transplant," warned Anthony Clarkson, director of organ donation and transplantation at NHSBT. It's really concerning to see the numbers of people waiting for a transplant slowly rising and people are dying needlessly every day because of the shortage of organs for transplant.

"You are more likely to need a transplant than you ever are to be a donor – and most of us would accept an organ if we needed one – but far fewer of us have made the decision to donate.

"We really need people who want to be a donor after they die to make it clear to their families and encourage them to support that decision. People are far more likely to support donation when they know it's what their relative wanted.

"I would urge everyone who supports organ donation to register their decision and make it clear that it's what you want should the worst happen. It only takes two minutes to register but it could save the lives of people who so desperately need a transplant. It's the best thing you'll do today."